Father John has invited me to speak in honour of St. Arnold Janssen, the founder of three missionary religious congregations: the Divine Word Missionaries, the Holy Spirit Missionary Sisters, and the Holy Spirit Sisters of Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration.

We simply speak of him as Father Arnold. His feast day was last Friday.

The SVD AUS Provincial Council recently undertook a workshop and reflection day on Professional Standards, to ensure the leadership team continues to be well versed in current policies, procedures and requirements in this important area.

The reflection day was facilitated by Dr Sharon McCallum, a consultant on ethics, complaints management and professional standards, who says the program focused on the Church’s response to allegations of harm to children or vulnerable people.

February was a month of great celebration in the SVD AUS Province, as two confreres celebrated significant anniversaries of their vows, with Fr Frank Gerry SVD notching up 65 years as a Divine Word Missionary and Fr Michael Hardie SVD marking his 25th jubilee.

Fr Frank, who now lives in retirement, celebrated his jubilee with family in Brisbane, while Fr Michael shared the milestone with confreres at Dorish Maru College in Melbourne, where he is Rector.

SVD communities around the AUS Province celebrated their heritage in January with the feast days of the Divine Word Missionaries founder, St Arnold Janssen, and the first SVD to be sent out on mission, St Joseph Freinademetz.

St Arnold’s feast day is celebrated on January 15, while St Joseph’s is on January 28. Each community celebrated the feast days in different ways, with the celebration of the Eucharist uniting all in prayer and thanksgiving.

The academic year is getting underway at the SVD formation house, Dorish Maru College, in Melbourne, with five new young missionaries from Vietnam, Ghana and Mexico joining the multicultural student mix as they take up language and theological studies.

Dorish Maru College is home to students from various countries who have come to the AUS Province to complete their formation and education as Divine Word Missionaries.

AUS Provincial, Fr Henry Adler SVD, attended the recent Papua New Guinea Provincial Chapter meeting, as part of a new push to promote closer collaboration among SVD zones and sub-zones in the Asia-Pacific.

The PNG Province, which has a long and warm association with the AUS Province, took as its theme for the gathering, “Witnessing the Joy of the Gospel through Intercultural Living”.

The annual SVD Marsfield Community Carols by Candlelight was a wonderful celebration again this year, featuring choirs and performers from a broad range of ethnic communities.

The multicultural flavour of the evening was topped off when everyone came together to sing Silent Night, with verses in different languages as well as in English. And there was even a visit from Santa for the kids.

The Divine Word Missionaries were in the midst of it when more than 3000 young people from dioceses all over Australia celebrated the Australian Catholic Youth Festival in Adelaide this month.

Fr Elmer Ibarra, the SVD Vocations Director, together with Hy Nguyen SVD, a young OTP student in the AUS Province, ‘hung out’ at the Divine Word Missionaries stall at the Festival’s Expo, and shared information and insights about SVD life with visitors to the stall.

Young people from St Mark’s Parish, Inala, in collaboration with the youth groups from Darra–Jindalee parish and Acacia Ridge parish, came together recently to celebrate the G1 youth event – God First.

Around 100 young people gathered in the Mercy Hall at lunch time on Sunday, November 29, for praise, worship and adoration and to hear two different testimonies about life changing moments in life after encountering God.

SVD missionaries ministering in places as far-flung as rural Central Queensland, suburban Brisbane and fast-growing Logan City, gathered together recently for a Queensland District Assembly.

The Assembly, which was held at the same time as the official Provincial Visitation, was a time for the confreres to get together for support, fellowship and ongoing formation.